Prosecutors seek second conviction in Cipriano murder trial

Mitchell Young enters the courtroom of Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Shalina Kumar before the start of his trial in the death of Robert Cipriano, pictured Wednesday June 19, 2013. (Oakland Press Photo:Vaughn Gurganian)

With one conviction already in their pocket, prosecutors began their attempt at gaining a second one in the Cipriano murder trial during opening arguments against Mitchell Young on Wednesday afternoon.

However, Young's attorney, Michael McCarthy, said his client believes he will be vindicated.

Young's former co-defendant, Tucker Cipriano, pleaded no contest to first-degree felony murder on Monday. That means that what was to be a jointly held trial with separate juries will now focus on Young.

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"Every night when we go to bed, we think when we wake up in the morning, life is going to go on like it did before," Oakland County Assistant Prosecutor John Skrzynski said during his opening statement.

"When (the Cipriano family awoke) on April 16, 2012, their lives were never going to be the same, and one of them was never going to wake up again. That's what this case is all about."

Skrzynski detailed his version of the facts in the case. It all began about two weeks before the attacks on the Farmington Hills home, when Tucker Cipriano told Young and another friend that he planned to head to Mexico because he violated his probation.

The plan was for Cipriano and Young to rob and kill people, and for Ian Zinderman to be the getaway driver. The trio would split an expected $3,000 haul evenly.

The night of April 15, Cipriano, Zinderman and Young were in Young's truck. Homeless and broke, the teens were hoping to obtain Spice -- a synthetic marijuana that is now banned in Michigan. They planned to drive to Keego Harbor to stay with a friend, but they also lacked the fuel necessary for the trip.

A plan was hatched to rob money from the Ciprianos. Twice, Zinderman helped Tucker through a window and into the Cipriano garage, where he obtained a debit card and a gift card. The debit card allowed the teens to purchase gas, Spice and cigarillos, but the gift card, obtained during the second trip, only had a balance of $2.65.

Before heading to the Cipriano home for a second time, Skrzynski said Young and Cipriano planned to kill the Cipriano family. Cipriano said his father, Robert, should be targeted first because he presented the biggest threat.

Young volunteered to kill Robert and his wife, Rose, while Tucker planned to kill his brothers, Tanner and Salvatore. The conversation then came to Cipriano's young sister, Isabella.

At that point, Cipriano said they should just check the garage again to see whether there was any other money to steal. That attempt yielded the gift card.

After the trio was unable to make any purchases with the gift card, Young and Cipriano decided to go through with the attacks, Skrzynski said.

Zinderman, who will be the first witness called Thursday morning, bailed from the plan at that point, saying 'Look, if you want to f--k up your life, do it, but I'm not going to be a part of it," Skrzynski said.

Young and Cipriano arrived at the home for a third time around 2:30 a.m. April 16, 2012. Young boosted Cipriano into the garage, and as he reached a mud room, the Ciprianos' dog attacked Tucker.

Hearing noise, Robert Cipriano awoke. Dressed only in his underwear, he turned on a light and said "What the f--k are you doing here? Get out of here," Skrzynski said.

Tucker began to hit his father with a bat, prompting Young to say "What are you doing?" Tucker then hit Young in the face with the bat.

McCarthy later said that Young suffered a dislocated jaw after being struck with the bat.

Tucker later handed the bat to Young. He "pleaded with Rose to shut up" before hitting her with the bat a few times, Skrzynski said.

Isabella came downstairs and Tucker took her back upstairs. Young heard a fight begin, and it made its way down to the foyer, where Tucker hit Salvatore with a bat.

The other brother, Tanner, hid in his room and called 911.

"Someone's at my house," he said in his initial call.

"Come quick. Come quick."

Tanner then hung up, but during a subsequent call, he told the dispatcher that his brother was "probably on drugs."

Screams could be heard in the background. In a later conversation with the dispatcher, Tanner said he could hear Isabella screaming. At that point, he believed police had arrived and that Tucker and Young were leaving.

"Please catch them," Tanner said.

Tucker had left, but Young remained at the home. Police saw Young run up the stairs, knocking Isabella over in the process, before running back downstairs. They then handcuffed Young and Tanner Cipriano.

When police entered the home, "there are two enormous thick smears of blood as if something had been dragged down these stairs," Skrzynski said.

Rose was bleeding badly. Salvatore was struggling to breathe. Both were covered in blood, and both had serious wounds to their heads.

Robert was found with several serious head wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Officers noticed that Young's pants were covered in a substantial amount of blood. Tests showed that the blood was Robert Cipriano's, Skrzynski said.

A blood spatter expert said the stains were from "impact spatter," he said.

Two aluminum baseball bats at the home had blood on them. One had blood belonging to both Young and Robert Cipriano, while it did not have Tucker Cipriano's blood on it. Tucker Cipriano did not have any of his father's blood on him.

"It was Mitchell Young who beat Mr. Cipriano while Tucker held him, and for that, they're both guilty," Skrzynski said.

McCarthy, however, said Young has a "confidence that he's expressed to me numerous times that if this case can be presented to a jury, they this trial will be for him a day of vindication, or a series of days of vindication."

He said the case is "horrific" and "serious," but asked the jurors to "scrutinize the evidence, look at it closely, hold the people to their burden of truth, and listen closely."

McCarthy said the facts that have been offered to the public may not be 100 percent accurate.

"Perhaps there's been some misinformation out in the public," he said.

"What you decide here is absolutely the last word on determining the facts."

McCarthy also asked jurors to keep emotion out of their decision.

"One of the things you're going to have to guard against while you listen to this horrific story that happened to these good people ... is you can't allow your emotions to affect you the way they would normally," he said.